Quality Education For All S. 15

Democrats are committed to providing a quality education to all Americans because we recognize that education has always been the cornerstone of equal opportunity.  Democrats will keep our promise to education at all levels, from pre-school to college.  We are determined to expand access to a high quality education for all Americans. 

Strengthen Head Start and Child Care Programs.  Children that participate in Head Start and Early Head Start enter elementary school ready to learn. Democrats will acknowledge and support the Head Start program by allowing poor families up to 130% of the poverty line to participate; improving school readiness of Head Start children by strengthening activities to promote social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development; requiring teachers to have a college degree within the next 8 years and that within the next 3 years, all new teachers must have an AA or be enrolled in a program leading to an AA degree; requiring teachers to receive on-going literacy training; and targeting the use of quality funds to promote early childhood development in addition to safety.

Provide Safe, Reliable Transportation for Rural School Children. Many rural local educational agencies do not have safe and reliable buses and lack the resources to buy new buses or retrofit the ones they have.  This leaves children no choice but to ride in outdated, unsafe buses. This bill creates a federal program for rural school districts to purchase new buses so that they can retire substandard buses. It establishes a 75% to 25% federal to local match, and authorizes $50 million for 2006 and such sums as may be necessary for 2007 through 2010.

Fulfill Our Obligation to Children With Disabilities.  Improving educational results for children with disabilities is an essential element of national policy. Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Reauthorization in the 108th Congress, which called for the federal government to honor its commitment to the States by providing 40% funding for the excess cost of special education. S. 15 calls for the federal government to fulfill its obligation to the states and approximately 6.5 million children by appropriating the funds authorized in the law by 2011.

Improve Elementary and Secondary Education.  The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) created unintended consequences for school districts nationwide. Due to the rigidity of the law’s requirements, many schools had difficulty implementing the mandate which was exacerbated by continual underfunding. S. 15 recognizes that NCLB can – and should – be improved. This bill makes improvements in the areas of supplemental services, highly qualified teachers and paraprofessionals, and recalculation of annual yearly progress (AYP). Democrats will provide the additional resources that will help our schools work with the nearly 4.1 million students, or 8.5 percent of our nation’s public school students, who are English language learners. The bill also provides full funding of Title I resources for local school districts that help disadvantaged students succeed academically.  The bill also includes a Sense of the Senate Resolution to fully fund Title I: $22.75 billion in FY06 and $25 billion in FY07.

Address the Need for Math, Science and Special Education Teachers.  Democrats recognize that math, science and special education teachers are becoming scarce. This bill creates a tuition-free program for future teachers in these fields. Democrats will make public college effectively tuition free for future math, science, and special education teachers.    

Provide a Roadmap for First Generation and Low-Income College Students.  Democrats will continue to support the opportunity of a college education.  The bill provides additional funding toTRIO, a program that helps low-income, first-generation college student attend and complete college, and GEARUP, a program created to help lower-income students consider and prepare early for college.  These are two of the most important and successful support systems for aspiring students and the budget should not be balanced on their backs. This legislation authorizes funding for TRIO at $1 billion and GEARUP at $400 million.

Provide College Tuition Relief for Students and Their Families. The Department of Education changed the eligibility determination for Pell Grants via tax tables in the dead of night. The new formula will purge about 90,000 students from the rolls. This bill provides a hold harmless component on the Administration’s change to the tax table determination and restores the formula for Pell Grants, saving 1.3 million students from receiving decreased funding. Democrats will also increase the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,100 starting in FY2006. Democrats are also committed to helping students succeed and graduate.  The legislation authorizes $500 million to create a Summer Pell Demonstration Program to facilitate the ability of low-income students to complete their degree within 150% of the expected time. 

Making College Affordable for All Students.  Democrats are determined to expand the opportunity of college and will do so by increasing access to HOPE and Lifetime Learning tax credits.  The bill makes these two credits refundable.  We will also triple the maximum college tuition deduction to $12,000 and make the deduction permanent.  Democrats also understand the difficult burden that college loan payments place on recent graduates and their families.  Democrats will create a tax credit for student loan interest expenses. The credit is targeted to low and middle-income families and increases the current tax benefit for the average family from $375 to $1,500.